RVs Outnumber Tent Campers in Saskatchewan

August 26, 2013 by RVBusinessComments Off on RVs Outnumber Tent Campers in Saskatchewan

An increasing number of people are choosing the comforts of an RV over pitching tents in Saskatchewan’s provincial parks, according to a report in the Calgary (Alberta) Herald.

The Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) reported the number of RVs registered in the province shot up 26% to more than 65,000 between 2008 and 2012.

“More and more people find if they don’t get out of town they don’t relax, so the RV is a popular way to go,” said Darryl Kehoe, one of the owners of Kehoe RV in Saskatoon. “With cabin prices the way they are, this is a very affordable way to get away.”

And with the increase in RV owners, it’s getting tougher to find a campsite, according to numbers released by the Saskatchewan Parks Service.

“On the July and August long weekends virtually every campsite would be occupied across the province” said Mary-Anne Wihak, the provincial parks’ director of visitor experiences. “Several other weekends in the prime time will also be at or near capacity.”

During peak season, from late June to mid-August, occupancy in electrified sites has risen from 74% in 2007 to 85% in 2012.

“We’ve tried to respond through adding electrical service in campsites overall but we still can’t meet the demand,” Wihak said.

Not that every RVer wants an electrical site, nor every camper with a tent doesn’t want one, Wihak explained. But 83% of campers are in an RV, and 73% of the campsites have electric service.

“More and more of our campers have moved to the RVs and are moving to bigger and more expansive kinds of units out there,” she said. “So not only is the electrical aspect of our attribute being requested of us, it’s also for bigger and wider sites.”

All of this is after the province has increased the number of electrified campsites by more than 50% since 2008. She said electrical service will be added to more campsites this fall and they are in the midst of expanding campsites in Greenwater Provincial Park.